BAGHDAD, June 22: A grenade attack killed a US soldier in Iraq on Sunday.

The US military said a second soldier was wounded in the attack on a military convoy at Khan Azad, some 20 kms south of Baghdad. The first was dead on arrival at hospital.

It was the latest in a spate of deadly assaults on US forces in which 19 soldiers have been killed since President George W. Bush declared major combat in Iraq over on May 1.

Two US soldiers were wounded in the town of Hit, about 140 kms northwest of Baghdad, on Saturday afternoon when their vehicle ran over a landmine.

A US military spokesman said on Saturday that 90 Desert Scorpion raids had captured 540 people.

The same day, a previously unknown group, calling itself the Iraqi National Front of Fedayeen, vowed to intensify assaults on US troops until they leave Iraq.

US officials blame the attacks on Saddam loyalists, though there is widespread resentment at the US occupation and the way the military conducts raids and detains people.—Reuters